us. 31% of them on the citizens are self-employed. so this is something that's very important to know that we are agents, we are crucial agents of the economic recovery so i can talk about it later but i think the most important point to make is we suffer because of the credit crunch a few years back. >> it's hard to fully understand the impact of the housing crisis without talking about its impact. the latino community in the run-up to the level invested an enormous amount of fair collective housing and as a result sulky their aggregate wealth skyrocket in the years and the lead up and then of course when it burst, you saw the wiping out of an enormous

part of that wealth because of the direction of the investment, so in a sense it is kind of the success story and the of the part of the story as well and as a result you have seen some numbers in the community around housing where they recently came out with a study that showed somewhere in the neighborhood of 40% of all homes in predominantly spent communities under water for pleasure rate among hispanics is in the neighborhood of 12% which is more than 12% and among whites it is 50% higher than african-americans, so the numbers in part because of that investment, that deep investment in american home ownership are just a really difficult number and then i can hopefully get a chance to go into how the programs we have laid out have really focused on the latino community in an effort to try to get that community back on its

feet which is important because they've suffered this relative to the general population, but it's also important because the recovery of that community for purely economic reasons as we to be central to the housing market generally because of the members. if you look at the increase in hispanic home ownership in the last year it is a magnitude greater than any other group. in the last year roughly half a million new hispanico motors have come to the market ahead which is the next some of all of the new homeowners in the united states so if you took out the new hispanic you have a net loss because of foreclosures and people moving to the renters in the last year so that we are not in the red is solely a result of the growth and hispanic home ownership still in this crisis, so making sure this community gets back on its feet those that

are struggling and those who are looking to get access to the market through access to credit is good to be hugely important for moral and economic reasons as we begin to see the market turned. >> i think it hits the states in the housing crisis in california and nevada arizona and florida which suggest perhaps the largest populations in those states, so we mentioned the recovery starting with the recovery act the administration has been a great deal notwithstanding those terrible commercials in the olympics and was a huge success as you noted. but let me start to come back to you is there one program that you don't think house may be gotten the attention? you sort of went through a bunch

of things but is there one program of the things that you know, the department of labor otherwise that the administration has put in place that you don't think has gotten much attention that's made a significant difference that he would media like to dive into a little bit more? >> as i said there's pretty good evidence right now on the bipartisan entity has actually estimated that about 2.6 million jobs have been created as a result of the recovery act. a big part of the recovery act was about, you know, giving the state grants, giving income support, giving tax breaks to the middle class. all of those things as i mentioned before are the key because that is what has guaranteed that money ripples through the economy that we put into the pockets of those that are most likely to spend that money because people cannot really afford to save when they are unemployed is the high

marginal propensity in the economics jargon and they just want to spend the money and that makes its way through the economy, and that's been incredibly key. but i think our training programs have been very crucial helping people make those concessions tremendously successful program has been trade adjustment assistance community college career fund says we're training people for the skills that are needed in the labour market. so as the secretary mentioned, the community college fund that was proposed in the 21st post to become budget that is in line with what we learned which has been shown to work effectively and training people in those high growth high demand sectors and making sure that we place for example hispanics into the new sectors so that has actually started to happen. latinos are moving into

manufacturing, they're moving into the professional business and to the really high paying sectors. they have suffered from the backtracking that we had in the construction sector and the fact that they lost jobs in huge numbers in the construction sector and some other sectors they tended to be employed in big numbers that they're making their way through the new sectors and that has helped tremendously to the estimate in terms of sba and small business, are there particular programs and you think kind of quacks one of the things that is frustrating partly seen those commercials in the olympics part of the there's always the situation if you do 200 things, it seems like less than it is whereas if you do one big thing people understand and it makes an impression so it's frustrating because i feel like people don't understand probably more than to enter things have been done. so, i sort of -- in your space

what do you think he would most want people who are in the because objected to the ads to understand what is being done. >> mcclellan the hispanic community to know is that the sba is there to help them. going back to my own story, college-educated, my mom says i'm pretty smart sometimes but i didn't know that there was held for small businesses when i was building my business. but i want to say is there are three ways that sba could actually help not only the hispanic community that anybody that wants to start a business. then coming back we need to please go back and tell our communities that the sba has helped. first of all, how do we get in the business? you come up with a wonderful idea. and nobody is an expert on that, but that person that is building the business. they know that hispanics have the drive, the desire, and the idea to actually build a

business. however, to actually get in the united states the need to put that in writing to create a business plan and that is something that many of us and putting myself have in my mind how i build a business to like improvised by way to success or actually sit down and make sure that we have somebody to help with that business plan so that a network of support counselors and trainers around the country but those of us in the country including the business sectors and a small business centers and school counselors would sit with anybody including hispanic businesses to see if that idea is going to be viable is this all you need to actually switch gears for postponement because we are in the business of saving

whatever little money you might have into investing in a business that may not be successful for whatever reason. so it's very important to know that we have a wonderful program in terms of counselling and training for small business owners. it's written down and makes perfect sense. of course you need capital you need capital to start that business and that is something that sba does very, very well. however it's important to note that the sba is not a lender. the sba works of banks to guarantee loans to small businesses. the recovery act was a fantastic tool. s be atypically depending on the industry and depending on the business would guarantee up to 70% of the loan. with the recovery act we pushed

it up to 95% of the loan so that the banks would have the confidence to start lending and that was the key to actually released at economic crunch i was talking about and since 2009, $4.4 billion have been supported by sba in terms of loans. that is just for hispanics. so, we can help with loans by some real gains so that is very, very important. so this is the counseling, the capitol, and of course you need contracts, so we want to put in everybody's mind especially hispanic today that the federal government could be an incredible client for all of us and that's how actually the business when i was in the

private sector and suddenly i became a contractor for the federal government in my business pretty much took off. so in terms of women this is my pitch about women. of all of the billions of dollars in the federal government spends and small businesses, we can't quite make 5% of all that. it's pretty hard to believe, so we are pushing for the hispanics and women to actually get into the federal government for a client is not for everyone and is not -- if you are just beginning work to start a new business you have to become a robust business to deal with the biggest client you probably have. succumb counseling, capital and contract. those are very important that the sba could help you with. >> it seems to me you have missed the most important thing. the top marginal tax rates. [laughter] so, could you respond to that?

seriously, you have listed three things, a top marginal tax rates doesn't start with a c, but if you listen to others, you would hear that for latino, any small business having a lower top marginal tax rates is the most important thing for growing small business. >> welcome it is. if you just want to jump into that. it is very important. we actively implement 17 tax breaks for small businesses in the last what is it, three years or so? a couple of years. so, you know, some of them expire and some of them continue. i did hear from small businesses. actually i was in texas. they said i really would like to start tax breaks instead of hiring to i get tax breaks for hiring new people. i woul like them to continue longer than 12 months because that certainly would really allow me to plan long term.

so that is something that is very important for small businesses. >> they're having the 100% expensive for the cause for businesses. a the president has put into the budget in the 2013 budget and initiative to reduce the taxes to the tax rate of 10% for the small-business is growing their business and their payroll. so there have been 17 of them i just mentioned a few, but certainly those have been there and i have to say that actually when you look at the surveys with small businesses and high taxes don't wink at the top, you know, the highest ranking concern is demand. these federal contracting and the new target that we are having the federal contracting to meet 22% of the minority business making into this federal contract or one way of helping those businesses. helping them to open markets abroad and to export is another

way of expanding our market. so it doesn't seem to be a top concern. >> it is actually the access to capital that is of most in their mind. >> the other thing to draw the distinction as the things that you have described that the administration proposed have been actually measures aimed at creating employment connected with connecting with actual employment and investment as opposed to measures that are just your wealthy we assume that throwing money you will do good things which is a distinction. >> that connection is really important. i'm not sure this is the first thing that ever went of labor are working together to actually, you know, you have all of this work force development. it was never -- and entrepreneurship was never a part of what so we are actually working together to make sure that when they get trade for whatever interest they want to

start, then we can actually connect with labor to start connecting the small business is retiring. islamic if you could maybe talk about the kind of things in the housing area where the administration has taken action that perhaps are not well understood by the public. >> i guess with respect to the latino community especially, it's -- there are a few numbers that i find interesting and telling about the impact of the programs have had. first on access to credit issue which is enormous on the housing side. today four and five hispanic families purchasing a home with a mortgage are getting it through the fha, the agricultural department for 80% of hispanic. it's a remarkable number just to put it in perspective. that is compared to one in seven in 2004. so the degree to which the

hispanic communities and latino communities are depending upon the government back lending is just off the charts, and because of the numbers i mentioned earlier about the household formation and expansion it's important not just the to that community but more broadly and economically. other number that i find interesting and telling about the impact of the programs we have about today in the camp program that has helped upwards of two entered thousand hispanic families modify their loans to a more sustainable path going forward. so an enormous number roughly a quarter of all beneficiaries of the program, the hispanics. and then as far as community direct assistance, we've rolled out the neighborhood stabilization program several years ago which is $7 billion going into the particular hardee communities just mentioned. roughly two and $3 from that money are going in the communities of color.

one is six and roughly going directly to the benefit of latino families. so, if you actually lay out the members of the main programs we've rolled out, the degree to which they disproportionately help this community is always surprising to me when i go and look at the numbers but if you go back to the opening frame, the opening story which is that this community has been particularly hard hit by the collapse in the market and stands to reason that the assistance would be targeted in a way that would help them. so, when i think about the narrative is that are missing in the house and discussion, it is often people get lost in the numbers. they often focus on their own numbers and don't appreciate the degree to which they are being helped. in the last number which is more forward-looking it is we have through the treasury department will build the state fund which is another $7 billion infused

into the very same part of the communities which is money that is going there directly to the states to basically stand in a way that they think would best help their struggling communities and that's going largely to the principal reduction it looks like they're still sorting through what programs like the most sense. if you go back to the number i began with which is 40% of homes the communities are under water from a negative equity is going to be something which even as we pull out of the recession is something the community's struggle with a long time and it is accurate and certain concentrated areas and succumb to the degree we can increase the amount of negative equity written that the market will really help latino communities especially but help the market in general and the hardest hit funds will help there. the last point, within hamp, recently we increase incentives for the production within the program and have seen a shift in the market on help to think about the production or largely taboo only a few years ago.

there was the sense that moral hazard her perceived to be inherent in the writing down of debt and outweighed whatever benefit there was. you've seen an interesting shift in the we've of vendors think about the rest for a borrower that is distressed and the incentives we pushed out in the programs they have begun to be a little bit more aggressive and how they provide debt relief. so within the hamp program over the last several months, you have seen a shift so that now three to four underwater families get a relief responsive are actually getting the reductions when you go back and think about the 200,000 families, hispanic families getting relief in hamp our sense is that going forward more and more of those families will see their - equity come down. succumb that joined with the hardest hit funds and their resources and reducing the negative equity, the servicing element that we reached with the five major lenders in the settlement, the largest to date

largely focuses on the production as well. so the somewhat optimistic expectations over the next year or so as you will see the market really shift in the direction of providing more principal reduction in the community that has been beaten up. >> it may take some of that. some of the things that adriano keeps coming back to the demand in the economy and the importance of the big thing is letting that is the overhang of the debt it's important and particularly in certain communities which are even more constrained by it. >> it's just sort of common sense in the sense that a family that is deeply underwater and would like to be able to sell their house to move to a better job and better schools. a lot of the money that would have gone into expending money for the local hardware store bring to the movies and what not

those into deleveraging and so when you have the communities of which almost all of the families in that community are focused on getting out from under water in their house not surprisingly the demand in those communities suffer. such a degree that we can sort of facilitate a little more quickly in those communities it will unleash demand much more quickly otherwise you really do see a negative equity overhang for years to come in these communities if you can't. the ramp up of the home price appreciation in the equity as well you just see the homes or communities that are going to be we are going to have a dark cloud unless we can find a way. >> the vacant homes and also problems that in that sort of even the values are down from the market and then you just feed on itself and just have a downward spiral in the communities. >> of the interesting things about the market is true in other markets you often have a spiral that goes down or up and so you try to change the

behavioral and max and home price trajectories so that you wind up with a positive sort of reinforcing cycle that goes up or brings the market down. it feels like the numbers in the last few months have been good by and large, so we've made an inflection point where we see a reinforcing cycle going up petites and if we do it at a national level you will have pockets of distress that will take a lot longer to benefit from that kind of positive cycle so our focus needs to make sure those distressed communities have a way out from under that stress. >> what we ask you, you know obviously this administration came in at the beginning of the great recession, so my question is a little tricky. the sba has for a long time done the kind of things you've described in terms of counseling

and credit and the best. has there been in response to the great recession and its aftermath has there been a change in its approach was there a particular focus that changed because of that? obviously the new administration came in so was there a particular -- for their particular things in response to that to help small businesses? >> first of all, the agency can engage this new relevance that damped of everybody else who has been there for either a year with 30 years to step up and actually work. one thing i can think about very, very quickly is that for small businesses it is very important and the sba isn't so driven in this. is to actually begin exporting

so we have a great program with the president's initiative to double exports to lot jolie even when you are in the business thinking that 90% of the clients are now some of the borders of the united states. so it is something that has acquired new relevance in terms of pushing small businesses to continue doing what we've done, but really it is the new vision of what a small business is at this point. succumb exports are just -- you have new programs that go to the states are supporting exporting. that is important to say. another thing is that -- i'm going to go through life read with c's. when a small business is hit by disasters and we have seen quite a few come of the sba jumps, and

again it's something our mission hasn't drastically changed the relevance of the agency has drastically changed. the partnerships that we are creating with other agencies just like the department of labor with the department of commerce the fact that the sba has elevated to the level that will assess a lot. going back to the capitol, we have completely renovated all this paperwork that we have for lending for all the loans it was just forever people were reluctant to deal with the sba because of the paperwork so would take months to go through to get a loan or $10,000 by the time you go to that you either were out of business or something happened. so all that has changed and we have an electronic filing for loans. it is a response to the need and it isn't reactive agency anymore. we just want to be there when you read it so we can react a lot quicker than before.

>> one thing that is a problem in the u.s. but really the world over his youth unemployment and particularly that affects the latino community because it is a young community aside from anything else. so are there things you mentioned some education initiatives or training initiatives but some of them are to retrain the existing workers. what is being done in the field? >> that is very important because while we have made the strides in the community in terms of obligation to lag behind, about 50% of all latinos by now have a high school degree or some college but only 15% have actually had a college degree or more so we need to make progress. one way in which latinos make progress is by getting training so our training programs are the key in reaching out to the latino community and in

particular to young people to read this, but we tell you about a few of our programs. as i said before during the recovery act there was money for summer jobs and the unemployment for poor young people. a huge share of those jobs went to the latino community about 80,000 jobs to the young latinos. those were very key in 2009, 2010 we had money for that. but that money ran out. so this secretary have been very protective about actively reaching out to the private sector getting commitments from the private sector to actually create jobs for people during the summer so we had 300,000 commitments from the private sector to provide jobs to this advantage many of them about a third of and actually pay, and some others are learning their opportunities. some of them are more like shadowing opportunities.

we know nonetheless that these opportunities really open doors on the road for young people. so it's very important that they start their career in a good way and this has been very successful this year involving, again, the private sector. in terms of our training programs, we have youth program, which is geared to words disadvantaged duty to -- disadvantage youth. it helps people complete their ged but also to make their way into new jobs, and about 30% of those are by the youth are actually latino, so a huge fraction. job corps we have 125 job corps centers of some of the country that is a national program to order disadvantaged youth highly reaches the community about 20% of them are latinos served by john -- and job corps and it's

making sure that people get certificates, finished high school, finish their ged and get placed in jobs about 65% of people that go through the programs actually made it into jobs or continue their education and even higher share get certificates for and getting a high school degree so those are important. another program targeted towards the construction jobs and getting people those skills to get into the construction sector as well as finishing out their degree, so about 20% of those going through the field are latino as well. so, we have many of our programs and that really reach out to latino young people and are very successful placing them into jobs and actually getting them to retain those jobs and get higher earnings down the road. >> i'm going to start asking questions fast before i lose any more panelists. jim had actually told us that he was going to have to leave a

little early so he didn't just get upset and leave for anything by my grilling of him. let me just ask you one other thing. you know, the weak labor markets are just a recipe for abusive employers and problems that we in the labour market. has that been something that has been observed and have there been actions taken to deal with that? >> you are certainly right. when the businesses are feeling the pinch, the first thing they will do is try to cut costs and cut corners and maybe not comply with things they should be complying with. so, we pay to beat could have been tremendously successful of the department of labour with our enforcement agencies. osha which is the office of health and safety administration has been active especially in reaching out to the latino community. we find that of the latino community especially suffers the abuse, for example in the construction sector. so, osha has made a special

effort, for example, to hire the new investigators who are bilingual and who speak other languages. about 700 new investigators and the department of labour have been hired since the beginning of this administration. who speak other languages and who are reaching -- able to reach out to the different communities wage per hour has been a huge success. so wage per hour versus making sure that there is compliance with minimum wages. since $2,009,700,000,000 has been recovered in back wages on behalf of workers about a third of them to the minority workers, and many of them reaching out to, you know, the industries and to occupations that are low-paid and particularly hitting hard in the latino community. so there has been a huge success in the past year during the to under 50 million. o.s. ccp which is our office of

the total contract and compliance program which oversees the pittard of the federal contractors and makes sure that there are no discrimination abuses and things of the sort has actually recovered 12 million rimini's on behalf of the minority women workers that suffer from the case of discrimination in hiring and wages. so there has been a huge effort this administration and again you talk about the changes in priorities. that has been a priority because we want to make sure that if there are good jobs being created the are created for everybody to the estimate i want to turn to the audience in a second for questions. but i did want to ask sort of one last thing of u-boats, which is the recession, we are digging our way out with some progress, but presumably we are going to get to the point where we are no longer digging ourselves out. we are worried about the kind of

long-term trajectory growth. obviously, latinos are a growing portion of the population and a greater part of the work force, more business ownership. so i just, you know, in terms of all the things that have been done, i am somewhat focused on sort of the recession and digging out of the recession, but how do you feel like what you have been doing and sort of what the administration wants to do prospectively and hopefully will have an opportunity to, you know, i guess i have a two-part question. a, how do you see the things that have been done projecting and helping in the long term, and b, what are the key things you haven't been able to do policy why is that you would like to be able to do as we sort of go ahead to help us in the long run. >> when it comes to the hispanic community's we would really like to see that of course like i

just said hispanics are in the opening businesses and being very entrepreneurial. however, we still lack hiring. we think we can do it all ourselves. so there is always the need to get the account and the attorney payroll and all that and so that is something that actually was focused. we create businesses but now we actually created jobs. of course that is the result so we want to make sure that the business is how we touch and any business that starts has the straight line of how big you were to grow to go off and say i am a business owner. but in terms of women, i call women my little sprouts and a lot of women are sprouting everywhere. how many of them are actually hiring two or three more people sleep on the small business to become more robust hired.

we know that they are embedded in the community and they want to reinvest in the communities of that is very, very important to get not. >> i'm not going to call when in my little sprouts. [laughter] >> i can say that. you can't >> i think as you have all heard on the issue that they should now businesses find the types of workers that they are looking for. during the recovery that is exactly where we see those concerns start to flourish and become more and more important, and i think that these programs that i mentioned by the community college of the president put in the 2013 budget will be very keen and helping especially for example the latino community transition from those construction jobs from

retail and wholesale trade and those sectors where they have been traditionally employed to the transition to manufacturing high-paying jobs to transition to the professional business services that is exactly what we're seeing now and one thing which is very true there has been a complete turnaround in an affecting sector we saw about 1 million jobs lost in manufacturing between 2000 and 2008 it seems 29 months ago we have had the longest spell of job growth in effect during sector we have to back to 89 to see something like we are seeing today and it's an opportunity for the latino community to get into these high-paying jobs that require skills sorghums need to be very much in line with the skills that are being sought after, and it is our role to make sure that we ease out those transitions and help certain communities get access to those

new jobs that are coming in the economy as it keeps growing. estimate that we have a microphone going around, and if you could identify yourself when you ask your question that would be great. >> line with the national law association of hispanic reva said professions. my question is for the department of labor. i wish jam had stayed. i want to compliment him for the figures cited on housing. very few people know that in the last 12 months 453,000 of the new homeowners have been latinos out of a total of 800,000 this comes at a time when there's been 641,000 losses among white households and 81,000 among black households. so you can see the difference. now i point this out because even though this has just been

released yesterday which i was quite pleased for him to highlight this. the same time this happened a latinos have accounted for an additional more than half a million rent or households which is the reason we don't see a spike in the rate of homeownership. my question for the department of labour is we know that every month, new households have been formed. and as long as they are record households that doesn't make a dent on the rate of homeownership. does the same thing over with the rate of unemployment as more young latinos and other minority groups and other folk center the work force every month is that not one of the major reasons why we don't see a dent made in the on an planas rate? >> as secretaries alisa mentioned the and limit rate reaches a peak november 2010 and 13.1.

it has been coming down. it's not for 2.3, almost three percentage points fall. just in the last year its fallen by over one percentage point. just last month from 11% to 10.3% just in a month. so we are definitely seeing a dent. that is the first thing to point out, we are seeing that dent. the good thing is that many of the new jobs being created are going to latinos. the other good news about that is that the reason why the unemployment rate is falling, close to most of these like 99% of the reason why the unemployment rate is going down is because people were getting into jobs not because people are falling out of the labour force. so, we are seeing a dent and it is coming because of people going into jobs not because of people pulling out of the labor force when you say from ownership to rental, do you see

also the dent between the w-2 workers and the 1099 workers? many hispanics work on contract and they get a 1099 by the end of the year, so i'm sure there are a lot of people that are fully employed in the business having different contract and to different places. so we actually -- one really good thing that we see is that about two-thirds of the jobs and to which latinos are going aryan high-paying and high benefit sectors. as i say, latinos are starting to go into manufacturing and to professional businesses semester health and education sectors that are high-paying jobs and higher benefits so in fact we are seeing a movement towards jobs that are better in terms of their quality, not worse. >> thank you.

>> all i have a question i'm here for a small business owners that has been helped by sba creative lines of communications. there is a recent signing of an agreement with aarp. does that have a future? >> yes, yes. the recent -- it's not quite in agreement. it's something the we want to collaborate with is with aarp, and we see people who have actually left, have worked all their lives and a bigger thinking it is 50 and over a very vital and vibrant, so we want to make sure that those people that given the recession because they've worked their lives and they want to actually exit out actually they became whether they wanted to do which is open their own businesses. so we do have a new partnership with aarp. we are going to start with which

all of those people over 50 that want to start businesses would actually tap into what i just mentioned was a 14,000 counselor of the country, and get the assistant a welcome the assistance that they want. so that is just the beginning. there is also a special program with aarp so we will start exploring that because as was mentioned for youth we also want to make sure that anybody 50 and over has all the resources they need to start businesses. so yes. hang tight. it's coming. >> good morning. frank with social work austin. the hispanic community there has always been a disconnect between public services and their ability to learn and access them

in an effective, efficient and significant way. you mentioned a number of wonderful opportunities. how are you going to ensure that word is getting into the people in need it the most and the organizations that can connect them to that. >> let me talk about that part of labor programs. as i mentioned actually in terms of our training programs coming and especially for the youth the numbers i mentioned hispanics are actually disproportionately represented in our programs. in terms of some of the of course that efforts as i said, we are hiring bilingual investigators, hiring people would go out in the field and reach out to the communities. this is in her mind obviously and she has pushed for good jobs for everybody and that is everybody regardless of, you know, their status and in terms of being documented and

undocumented, being citizens or not, everybody in this country needs to be served by the department of labour. so, we are making sure that we reach out to the communities that we have people that speak the languages that are spoken in the communities that reach out under the level. >> what you just mentioned is crucial for us because it is definitely by not knowing it can take advantage of the services. so, fortunately this new prudence about the budgets and the agency has cut quite a bit that could have gone into marketing and in these type of efforts which i totally understand. we want to be more to be to assure that the services are there but i think the obama administration has engaged the community and there was a part of those efforts directly create the link between white today you

can tell them what is it that they have to offer to small businesses. but it is so crucial that as the sba or the department of labor's or better programs we have don't remain a secret for the community which is i know it, i see it everyday. i encounter more businesses and they have never heard of this. saddam it is a effort that i think the whole administration has been branched out making sure that we engage with everybody and if you have the need for us to come to austin will be happy to come to austin and make sure that the constituents know about this. >> that is a very good point. we are counting on you and everybody here and everybody in the community to reach out and help us to send that message and let people know what our programs are. one reason why we have different programs is because secretaries police to become slis and there were different people of the

country affected by very different problems. so, we have to make sure we have programs that are targeted to the needs of the young people who are targeted to people who don't have a high school degree or have an education to the older workers and older people who need to find out their jobs at the end of their life in this place, so all programs are very different, but we are counting on people like you to really help us reach out. espinel also encouraged the media outlets to see that benefit of letting people know about this. i was approached not long ago about how they are going to be giving this like broadcasting to the hispanic community, and the only solution is why don't we make up this and i'm not sure we really want to on the small businesses although it might. so there are -- to me there is a serious emphasis on the media to actually see how we can help the communities engaging with

agencies could be really helpful. >> linus sally greenburg and i'm the head of the national consumers league and we coordinate that shuttled to the cut child labor coordination. we work with a bunch of groups that focus on child labor in the united states including farmworker kids, and it would seem that your discussion about the three to 400 farmworker children around the united states your discussion about the job corps work working with young people making sure that they get degrees and moved out of the farm work and into more lucrative kinds of professions would be a great goal for the job care centers that you have. these kids grow up in families

that work extremely hard thing of great work efiks and ambitious but some of them are stuck in this cycle of poverty so i wonder what your thoughts were on how we improve the lives in the future of those kids. >> we actually have a special program targeted to words seasonal migrant workers. 70% of those served through this program are latino and a big part of the program is helping that community and migrant to transition from those jobs that are in the economy and its one of those per damson has actually been very successful. one thing to about latinos i think we are bringing the entrepreneurial, we also tend to move more than white workers as

other communities. so we tend to have a lot more mobility and that helps us seeking out the opportunities and the kennedys and farm workers that need that extra help to better jobs thank you for joining the panel. we are taking a five minute break now and come back for the next great panel. thank you.

[inaudible conversations] thank you for everyone joining in the room and falling along the live streamline with a great conference today with an all-star panel with issues related to the latino community on education healthcare and veteran's affairs. let me begin by introducing the panel to the right, deputy assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs at the veterans affairs committee. john garcia in proud veteran himself to served as the secretary at the department of the veterans services of mexico and has been a veteran's affairs specialist known all over the country for his tremendous work including being the veteran

small business champion of the year in 2006 he served in the central highland of south vietnam in 1969 and 1970 as a member of the u.s. army fourth infantry division and as a founding member of the vietnam veterans of mexico we are truly honored to have assistant secretary garcia with us today. the director of public health policy for health and human services. she is as primary oversight responsibility for coordinated and timely implementation of the public health prevention and health care work force policy provisions of the affordable care act, something you heard talked about a little bit here for the center of american progress. she has had the honor of working for some of the true great in the legislative business most notably senator durbin, who was here recently with a group of the dreamer's talking about the implementation of the dream that process. she has also worked for then a

congressman hilda solis and barack obama during his time on the hill. she also has acc credentials which is important to a guy from charlottesville. she went to the university of north carolina and berkeley. to her right is roberta rodriguez who serves in the white house domestic policy council as the special assistant to president obama for education. he was chief education council to the u.s. senator edward kennedy and worked extensively on all the education issues on the hill and the senate health committee on the development of the no child left behind act. prior to working on capitol hill he worked as the senior education specialist at the national council of la raza where he conducted research and analysis of the federal and state education reform issues as well as the development and evaluation of community-based education programs he's from grand rapids michigan and is a michigan and harvard graduate we

are honored today to have these incredible champions with us today to talk about this set of issues and we want to start by getting an overview. we will start with you, mr. garcia to say what is the current state of affairs for veterans in the country particularly latino veterans and what do you see as the most important steps going forward? >> what we thank the center for american progress for the invitation to be able to address this issue. before i begin are there any veterans in the office? >> no hands, no veterans in the office? that's pretty unusual for me. i used to speaking to a lot of veterans. how many people have a father, uncle, grandfather whose family member is a veteran? that is a lot different. let me just first of all begin by if i make a couple of quotes, and then i just want to give you a general overview of the population and then try to focus in on some of the needs of our hispanic veterans.

lopez world war i, 21 years of age from mexico spoke broken english and the only body of water he crossed was probably the rio grande river all of a sudden he's in the trenches of france fighting in the trenches and he writes a letter home to his wife, the slaughter in the archives of the mexico and he says how proud he is to be wearing the american uniform culbert in honor it is to serve under the american flag but he went on to say not to worry about me if i was to dalia in the battle it's better to die with honor and a rich man with no honor. that is very public. that came from the heart. for the man that served in the territorial days and is now more recently found in colorado springs by his grandson and he wrote on the first page so i was born into poverty the only inheritance i have is a legacy of honor.

again, it's a legacy of honor and tradition that's been handed down to us. whether we got here four days ago, 40 years ago or 400 years ago, we have been here for a long time. we've contributed to the growth of this country. since the early formation of the great country over 40 million men and women who were the american and for mr. some see this coming from airmen, coastguardsman come over a million have died in combat over 185,000 have been listed as a p.o.w. or missing in action. in that number there's 23 million veterans in the country today. that number, 1.3 million are hispanic. and again, i know many of us are kind of schizophrenic people. we have latino, chicana, misty said the mexican american, spanish american, porter began, so whichever fits is what we

feel comfortable with. so we are as diverse as we are in terms of groups also the common thread is our language and culture. but we have been here for over 400 years and the first citizen soldiers that came up and named the place in mexico, arizona, colorado. in fact some people said they went as far as we head north with a soiled sheets of ice and on the maps they put [inaudible] but now they call it canada. [laughter] a small group of what to make sure you get that. the foundation of the va that serves the veterans was established president clinton when he said in his inaugural address to care for those that borne the battle for his widows and orphans, and that is etched on to the cornerstone of the va

today across the country. there are many challenges but speaking as a vietnam veteran who came home to nothing, there's absolutely nothing when i got home. if you're a veteran you couldn't even put on your resume that you are a veteran and served your country probably. i went to the university as i want to go to school and the priest of a catholic college came out and said are there any veterans in the class and i said yes and i raised my hand. if you're a veteran of the vietnam i want you out of the classroom. because it was unpopular to be a veteran, and some guys said did you get back from vietnam? yes. why don't you meet us tonight. 8:00 at night i went and there were 12 other vietnam vets and they sit here don't tell anyone you are a veteran because the bulls 1q. i needed to find work. i couldn't find a job. the only reason i found a job in my city was because i drove down the main street and i found a building that had a big american eagle and said we hire vietnam

vets. there was an elderly world war ii veteran and he said to do get out of the service? you are hired start on monday. no resume or anything but the five of us the vietnam the mexico's number one and drafted the casualty rate. it was poor man's work. and west virginia and tennessee were first and second. but he hired me because he believed in the power of the vet. he believed in the michigan team and environment to get the job done. we leave no effect behind. and he said if you do what i say within two years you'll have your own retail store and in two years all five of us had our own store. it's because he believed in noss. unfortunately not many people believed then said that time, over 60,000 vietnam veterans committed suicide. so different from the past but not to do today with the troops

coming home. many of the troops coming home are the sons and daughters, grandsons and daughters of our veterans that served in the vietnam so there is a very progressive attitude going on. and i am telling you as a vietnam veteran come to some other administrations have donned new things from our vets but i haven't seen anything like i've seen in this administration as a vietnam veteran seeing what has been done for my veterans today and peery i will protect this administration believes as i do that if a man or woman raises their right hand to defend the constitution of the country, which many of us did, we took an oath come to a pledge that when you took that uniform off, but pledged didn't go away it stayed with you. when you took the pledge to serve on the front lines, you took the pledge to defend the constitution willing to believe and i. and i believe as this administration does if you are willing to die and serve on the front lines when you come home you're on the front lines of

jobs, education, housing, employment, all of the things he fought to preserve and to defend and that is what this administration is about. that is what was happening to my veterans today. ..

>> i just want to give you an overall view of what is going on today. it is early is only serving a .4 million veterans nationwide. that represents 15%. 35%, i am sorry. 65% of my veterans are not part of the benefits. it is not because they can't find a ba. there is a lot of community based clinics, mobile units, new va facilities being built. there are 152 medical centers across the country. 800 community-based outpatient clinics. one of three pillars of the va, which is the va health administration under our compensation and pension. under compensation for veterans filing for benefits. when you get out of the military come you have to go file file

for these benefits did. if you don't file, you don't get them. you have to file. you can take a horse to water but he can't make it drink. there's a lot of stuff that is out there and it's happening. 4.2 million veterans are receiving about 10% -- 10% are disabled. they have a 95% satisfaction rating. home mortgages guaranty enclosure made rate of 2.2%. very burial honors for eligible heroes and family members, 131 national caries. educational systems from $10 million annually. spent on education. we also provide grants to states and the va has the largest budget we have ever had to take care of veterans buried $140 billion to 100 billion going to the states. the states using about $8 billion other money to fund

my veterans fred if they're 65%. the growing number, like many of the homeless are minority veterans. women and black and hispanic and they have been women in black and hispanics hispanics and others. what's happened is that something that has not happened before. there is an effort that has not been happening. when i got back and i went to the va, i got there at eight in the morning and left there at 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon. i didn't go back. it took me 30 years the back. not because i didn't want my benefits, it was because i just served my country and i didn't feel my country needed to give me anything else. it was an honor to serve my country. and i find the many world war ii

veterans said it was an honor and privilege to serve. there are benefits out there. the post- 9/11 g.i. bill, many of the veterans are going to school. many of these veterans are minorities, going in right after high school. and they are going in for four years. they are coming out trained by the world's greatest country in what and what we are trying to get the employer to see if the training that they got and how to translate that resume to hire them. they want to hire my veterans. the va did their job in detroit. we had 25,000 jobs available, 9000 veterans showed up. the first day, 1300.jobs and when we opened the door, they ran to the employers get those resumes in. there are a lot of things happening with our veterans today. education, business opportunities, 26 small businesses in the country.

3.6 million businesses are owned by veterans bridge generating $1.7 trillion from employing a million people. veterans are a solution to the problem, not the problem. we have to look at it like that. there is an effort of all the things that are going on in light of the entire country. there is a concerted effort focused on my veterans. under the leadership, this is happening today. we have a lot of new challenges. the greatest challenge is getting the 65% coming into the va to file. reaching out to them in rural areas, in some places not just rural areas, but remote. to get them to file for their benefits. but it is not just addressing the veterans really have to adjust the family and find the wife and the children because i'm going to tell you for myself

that it took me 30 years. the reason i came into the va as my wife said i am tired of chasing you. if you don't want to do for yourself, do it for me. that makes sense. so i went into the va only to find that it was a very institution that was different that i came onto our my father came to. they are reaching out to the veterans community, the one strong resource that we have in this country. with akamai will turn it over to the rest of the panel members for that but i just wanted to give you a general picture of the veteran community and then we can target some specific issues. >> thank you so much for your service to the country and continuing to serve all of those who are in uniform. in the many questions i want to ask following up on that. but we will continue to set the stage by moving on to the issue of health care. director overestimate you could say a little bit about the current state of affairs for

help within that realm of live content latino community, and steps that suggest progress. >> yes, sure. i would also like to use think the center for american progress for that has been an exciting conversation to talk about how we are ensuring the opportunities. not only in the latino community, but for all americans. from the department of health and human services, we can look at each of our programs and policies and ensure that ladder of economic opportunity, which is a part of everyone of them. if you look at any of our goals as a nation, creating jobs and ensuring our kids do well in school, building stronger communities, it is a component of every goal that is set. it is fundamental to our that conversation. and when you think about individuals, help is one of the most fundamental opportunities. we cannot do well in school if we are not healthy.

we cannot work a 50 hour work week we have unmanaged funds. we care for our groceries if we have a stock of unpaid medical bills and no health insurance. one of the strongest effort to really improve opportunities for latinos across the country is the passage of the historic health care. it is important to emphasize that since the president came into office, help has been a fundamental component of their agenda. the first pieces was the reauthorization of the children's health insurance program. it is a lifeline for millions of families, particularly latino children to make a little too much money for medicaid but cannot afford private insurance and still need somewhere to go for coverage. as a result of that, we have more children enrolled in the program today than before the president came into office. the latinos campaign from one of

the most successful efforts to target childhood obesity, at a disproportionate rate the latino community. it is the first real effort to focus on childhood obesity and not the traditional health care sector and how we can fight childhood obesity, but expanding and looking at our schools and communities in very own families. to figure out what we can be doing there. just over three years ago the affordable care act really spoke volumes to help people in our country. if you look at the community today, one of three will have access to health insurance. one and two will have access to a doctor. as a result of that, we don't get the care that we need to stay healthy. we get diagnosed at a later point in the disease and as a result, it is more serious and more expensive. not only for the individual facing the diagnosis, but for the health care system as a whole. the affordable care act, it is

for fundamental things to improve health. we try to make health insurance more affordable. we strengthen the program of medicare for today and tomorrow and improve access to care before the law passed, we made changes. you could be told that you had a lifetime limit on eir insurance your insurance policy and be left to forgo your treatment. children with pre-existing conditions could be turned away from private insurance and have nowhere to turn for treatment and care because they didn't have health insurance in the private market. because of that health health care act from it you can have health care that is affordable and dependable and it will be there when you need it most. one very important provision of the opportunity for young adults

to stay on their plans of age 26. the first paying job is and always offer them quality and affordable health insurance. because of this law they would have been able to sit on their current financial the age of 26 if they are married if they don't live at home. so long as their employer doesn't offer them insurance company have somewhere to go for coverage. today, over 900,000 latino young adults have health insurance because of that provision. if you think about preventative services. one of the important areas is reducing the cost of health insurance. asthma, heart disease, certain risks of cancer. we often don't go to the doctor to check up on how we are feeling. we are dealing with other day-to-day priorities, whether that is taking care of children or buying groceries or paying

rent. when you are having to choose between both fundamental priorities for your daily life. we're going to the doctor just in case if you have something, you automatically know what they are going to pick. their families needs first. they do away with the co-pay or deductible for preventative services like mammograms, colonoscopies, things that keep us informed of our health care status and we are more empowered consumers. already, 6 million have access to preventative services without requirements. think about how much her health insurance has risen over the last few years. over the last three decades we have seen health insurance premiums grow at a rate three times the rate of wages. americans can't keep up. health insurance is becoming way too expensive, and as a result,

they are dropping coverage for themselves and their families. that is terrible news, not only for the health of the family, but for the long-term cost of our community. what we are trying to do the health of our keep costs down and i want to talk about two things in particular. first, how many times have we seen in his or her from people that we love that their health insurance went up 20%. 40%, some small businesses from 80% in one year. huge increases that people have that they can't afford their health insurance. they are shedding some light on an industry that needs to operate. in the rate increase of 10% or more than health insurance has to adjust, we are not saying that they can't raise more than 10%. there might be legitimate reasons why the premium has to go. we just want them to explain why. so you as a consumer can have the information they need to better understand what the practices of your insurance company are doing to you and your premiums. as a result of that, we are

seeing health insurance premiums still go will go up to go up at a slower rate. and there are some states that are actually seeing their premiums go down. and trying to make sure that health insurance companies are actually spending your premium dollars on actual health care services. prior to the law, health insurance companies spent almost half of the premium on things that have nothing to do with health care. overhead, marketing, ceo salary, not health care services. we have the 8020 rule where insurance companies have to spend 80 cents of every premium dollar on actual health care or improvements to health care. one person said i got a letter -- number one.

>> is a impact on everyone, not just something that is being discussed amongst certain individuals. it is the ability to keep them and their families healthy for the latino community, as the numbers are growing, making more impact for better opportunities in the future. we have opportunities to enroll in health insurance and be more empowered, after consumers and take control of their health. it is an exciting time to be part of the obama administration and we look forward to more latinos and americans know that they will have coverage. >> thank you so much. mr. rodriguez.

>> words that fall with quality affordable education? >> begin by thanking you by echoing my colleagues things to hosting today's conversation. it is an exciting time for education in our country. it is a time for change. the president has set forth a pact that drives ambitious change. innovation, seeks to spur reform in our schools because we know we need to do better if we are really going to reach this goal of providing a clear pathway to the middle class. for all of our students. let me just think back to

president and his health care and energy. it is a key prerequisite. for individual mobility. but beyond that, we also know that education is a key economic driver. it is a more knowledgeable workforce moving forward and education is really the key to be able to get there. when you look at the nexus between education and the latino community, i think you also realize that our collective success as a country really

depends on the success of our latino community and depends and requires that we do more to drive educational attainment in our latino communities. i think you just need to look at the numbers here. if you look at the growth of the latino community, they will account for 60% of the labor force moving forward by 2050. in just four years, we are going to have 40% of our jobs that require some type of post secondary education and training. it has to do with the fabric of the community, the key element of that, we need to be sure that we are doing a better job of

closing the achievement gaps and providing a pathway for each and every one of our young people in our latino community to be able to graduate and continue on to college and career. really, that again requires us to have a status quo in our schools, in our higher education in schools right now, it demands a lot of opportunity and a greater focus on outcomes. in particular, but for the latino community. where are we right now with the state of our latino community? for every hundred latino kindergartners, 63 will graduate from high school, 32 will complete some type of post

secondary education and only 11 will complete a bachelor's degree. or higher. in early childhood program is such a determinant of future success in school and life for our children, there are some of the strongest empirical evidence that shows such a high rate on return in terms of investment in early childhood education. and we know that there are school readiness gaps that loom as large as 60 points at kindergarten intrigue between children and peers.

across our society in the country, we are eliminating gaps. would you take that and when you combine that with the fact that latino children are the largest segment of our child population in the country today. the other peers can participate in a high-quality education program. we know that that they are less likely at age two to express vocabulary skills compared to their peers. and that manifests itself, as well as language and mathematics knowledge, social and emotional development, other key aspects and indicators. it is critical that we expand a

education in particular for the latino community. the president began at work by really investing heavily in our current federal framework of programs through the recovery act. expanded programs like a child care and development grant, expand programs like by bea and should do more to advance home visiting and all of this is driven to more expansion and strengthening of the network of current federal programs that serve our children under five years old. but we also have to do more to really challenge them and focus on the system. through that, the president has launched the race to the top early learning challenge. this is the issue that secretary

sebelius has worked to shape. now we have nine states that are moving forward. with plans to establish high standards of quality and a reading systems for all their of their programs, so that regardless of where children spend time, we know that there are opportunities for them to move forward to participate in higher quality programs, and ultimately, focus on doing more to expand outcomes in those programs to close the school readiness gap. there are another additional five states that will take on this race to the top early learning challenge. in early childhood education we are just decades behind k-12 and higher education systems in terms of bring a change in opportunities that are kids need to succeed. k-12 reform we are trying to

open the door of opportunity by raising expectations across our system. expectations for our students, expectations for the adult enough system come expectations for our teachers are principles and our school superintendents, for our decision-makers and community leaders and policymakers. at every level. we simply have to our game when it comes to elementary and secondary education entertainment. when we look internationally, we have fallen behind, and that manifests itself in key subjects like science and math, but it also manifests itself as we look at our college attainment rate and we see that we have slipped from first in the world just a generation ago to 16th in the world in the number of our young people who hold a college degree, relative to other countries like south korea, canada, japan, and others that have really raced forward there. and are using education as a real engine to drive their economy and their country

forward. so that imperative there brings us back to the need for change in k-12 education, there we have launched an ambitious race to the top with less than 1% of the total amount of dollars that were spent on education. we have said if states are willing to commit to a comprehensive system and plan for reforming our schools, to improve the effectiveness of their teachers and to focus on making sure that the teachers have the support and assistance we need to succeed and that we are focusing on outcomes in the classroom to really add value at an advance and determine our teachers that are most effective, use them in new ways and to take on new roles and responsibilities and determine those features that are least effective. help them to succeed in that they are not able to do so, ask them to take on a new profession. because our kids can't wait. we cannot afford another generation that fall through the cracks here.

in the no child left behind act, we had 15 states have actually lowered their standards in reading and math because of some of the accountability incentives. no child left a hand had great potential. no child left behind had great potentials, but it didn't provide incentives that states need to be able to raise their standards. through race to the top, you are willing to do more and expand innovation and to turn around your lowest performing scores, we will provide a grant to help your state move forward with their systemic reforms. and we saw over 36 states respond to this challenge by making some level of changes in their policies and practices. many of them raising standards that we now have. forty-five states and the country and the district of

colombia, raising their standards in part from no child left behind. we have 19 states in part with race to the top. we have 19 states that are moving forward with this race to the top. and that covers one third of our latino children across the country. millions of latino students are going to benefit from those reforms. the other challenge that we have at the k-12 level is around the dropout rate. in our latino communities, the dropout rate, again, i mentioned we only have about 67 of 100 kindergartners that successfully cross that that dropout rate that -- sometimes 60% of the students we are losing to this dropout challenge. it is a lack of engagement of

our schools and the crisis and the lack of providing an effective level of instruction for those kids. to be able to make sure that they're successful and they are staying on track for college and career readiness. we have allowed that to happen three quarters of our latino dropout can be traced to the schools. we can essentially help to curb that dropout rate and turnaround performance for that is what we have tried to do the $4.5 billion investment that the president has made in the nations most lowest performing schools. across the country now, we are embracing new reforms that are

taking on new challenges and who are looking at stepping in those schools, really trying to get the most effective teachers and leaders in the schools. and in front of our young people. revamping curriculum, providing a level of conference of services and wraparound services for our students. engaging parents and families in new ways. that ultimately will have tremendous potential. we have some early results in poor results -- but historically they were in our lowest historic schools. finally in higher education, we have done more to really advance affordability. and access entertainment.

they will close a loophole that had been going to banks and financial middlemen to originate student loans. it closes that loophole, subsidizing that industry at $60 billion. ..

through efforts that the secretary of labor is leading through with the with taa program we've done more to forge partners across all 50 states by investing a dollars and our community colleges and in their potential to partner with industry with businesses to really open and clear pathways for our young people and adults returning to training and education. we've also done more to make sure that our student loan programs are more generous, and the president talked about the importance of making sure students are able to manage their student debt after they graduate. student debt is now outpaced

credit card debt. we've seen to wish in spite across the country, and that's been crunching the middle class, and in particular crunching the latino communities and families and households, so we are trying to do more to address that and during the efforts the president announced, we will now have a new program that will have monthly repayments for student loans and 10% of a graduate's income so they will be able to afford those monthly payments, and graduates decide to go into public service after ten years, the remainder of the student loan balance will be forgiven. it's a huge boom for a world latino community and an important step forward. finally, we tried to do more to make sure that we are taking on the investments that are needed in the institutions and minorities serving institutions and over half of the students' right now in higher education are at the agents the president has invested over a billion dollars just in the mandatory funding to help support the

framework of colleges and universities to help move our latino crowd adulation rates forward. we also have to focus on a payment. we don't just want a conversation about access and affordability, but we have to make sure that all of our colleges are putting in place the reforms the need around persistence and completion for our students. so the president has announced new efforts and proposed a new face to the top of the converse is looking at on higher education to help the state's focus on this college completion goal as well as the first fund that would really help spur innovation and drive innovation in our higher education system and across the colleges and universities. we believe a lot of our college presidents have wonderful lady is to help move that sector for word we just have to do a better job of identifying what works

and scaling that up and shining a bright light on those strategies. so these are just some of the efforts that are under way but ultimately this is on the proposition. for education reform we don't have a go it alone attitude here the federal level. we believe that families need to participate in that process. parents and students need to participate, states need to participate. we all have a collective responsibility to our latino communities to really raise the payment at every level and that is a collective responsibility that we have and there is a moral imperative but there's also a strong economic imperative to the string of the country moving forwa. >> thank you so much. assistant secretary, i want to talk about veteran unemployment. you spoke very powerfully about the difference between our complete failure as a nation and in bracing returning veterans like yourself in the vietnam, and in so many ways i think that

this administration and country have made sure that does not happen with our afghan and iraq veterans and one of the most powerful voices for that is in the vietnam veterans themselves. i know by serve on the veterans affairs committee was the most powerful voice for demanding that we live up to this promise coming and you talked about some very powerful ways the we are doing that on the mental health on health care general. we've seen the percentage of the army that is latino double since 1994 and we are a stronger nation for it. but we also see high levels of unemployment for returning hispanic veterans. what are specific challenges in the employment area for hispanic veterans and what can be done to solve that problem? >> let me first say, you know, when you go in the military, you put the american farm on and serve the american flag and a

vet takes care of that. when you take the uniform off and fall back on your community are up in the mountains or wherever you're from you fall back into some of those that you have, many of the veterans that are going in today are right outside of high school and every one of them has an education package because this is an all volunteer army. so, they have an opportunity to go to school. whether the use it or not, that is the challenge. but one of the most effective bills signed in this administration is the post 9/11 bill that has the veterans going back to school. right now we have $17.5 billion in post 9/11 g.i. bill benefits for more than 710,000 veterans and inanimate for 22, 420,000 individuals are going back to school. the challenge for some of the

veterans, and it's been a partnership that before it used to be let dva take care of you and they were not in the land of finding jobs. they all came together and now the new players come to that because the forces led by mrs. biden that it's a collaboration of the private sector. he knew where the federal government and how to find a veteran shows and so right now the chamber of commerce is teaming up in the communities of states to do 400 job fears across the country. but with the va has put in place but compliments that is one of the biggest challenges employers have. it's not finding the debt limit is getting it put on the resume of the deals are training for but getting them to understand how to translate that, and how the person can read that and who

knows what 11b is. if i told you i was 11 be in the military that means i was infantry. uzi what kind of infantry? a critical thinker able to solve problems quickly. team oriented, able to work in a hard environment. to me that is a very critical kind of employee that you want to hire. there are other skill sets that take that and translated into the language slots and we are working on with dol come s.p.a. and within the va but some of the challenges are getting the word out to the community. getting the word out bilingual, getting the word out in spanish. i don't see who sees a lot of ads or marketing pieces to the latino community about filing for benefits or able to

translate the form you get when you get out of the military and send it in. it's difficult to find and it's not that they are not showing up. it's the percentage of their that are not coming in to file for those benefits to receive them. that's the challenge. in my state as the state director of mexico, we would send out a welcome package. every day i would get and sent hundreds of welcome home packages. 65% of them would come back so there is now the discussion to get the dod to link together and the states. the state director should know who they are than coming out of the military coming back home to my states. but one simple that we requested on line 19 b i'm sure you are on

the veterans affairs committee that is just an ad troup not just his home address what his e-mail address because that is what they are using right now. when i came home from vietnam, there was no e-mail. okay? where is the address i grew up in? if i turned back to that record address, the va couldn't find me. wind 9/11 occurred in the collapse it was inundated with vietnam veterans that came out of the woodwork with a new gulf war veterans. and the iraqi veterans. now there's this issue of backlog. the issue of backlog is because we are doing a greater job as of preaching and getting more to try to follow. we haven't done enough. so we are getting out over a million applications that over a million more coming in. so it's outreach, but it's communicating in the cultural

environment to my latino veterans in that community. making them aware. but also more importantly, making their families aware. making that family, that wife or mother or father aware that there are benefits that difference has earned and that he is entitled to and getting the veterans to say i want to apply for those benefits. we talked about education and the state's. i've got to tell you this as a case in point. in my stevan in mexico it a case study to find out how many veterans were enrolled in the institution of hard learning because i knew i had 30,000 iraqi afghanistan veterans back home that can my state. i knew they were about 2,007. so we did a survey. we had 4,000 enrolled institution of higher learning. that meant that 26,000 are not enrolled in the school. everyone had a 30 to 35, $40,000 education package. $500 million floating around.

so, we had to sit with the educational higher at and politico to say look, i've got $500 million floating around this state. how do we then captured that and bring them into the denver city? now the university president wants to put together a canvas to create a student that office. legislation is brought to pass to encourage the in-state tuition for veterans because they see this as a money market. when i went before my legislative guys and i said we need education, housing, jobs. they settle a lot our license plates. the issue of one veteran that is a perception. we say it's a young man or woman. but today they are young individuals right out of high school and many are latinos and other ethnicities that are coming out trained in this country with great job skills.

as we talk about education i just want to tell you that developing a comprehensive job package this administration put together 12 points if i could just highlight a few of them if i may. the tax credit for reference. increasing veterans' health care related bills, hiring veterans for first responders and law in force that officers preserving and restoring america's land and resources developing the tools to boost veterans employment and increasing the incentives reemployment services, challenging the private sector to hire and train veterans and their spouses, supporting the of jupiter should, three and 6 million veterans ought to have an ought to our training program to go on to get these men and women backed to open up companies because you know they are going to if there are the company owners and ask them to hire one difference would that i just do? whistled the unemployment

problem. this president recognizes that and that is why you're seeing the corporations engage in that because now it's becoming a win-win situation. so, these are just some of those initiatives being put in place meeting the federal government a model employer in the agency council. to hundred thousand veterans have been hired right now within the system. expanding small business opportunities for veterans and in the creation of a military convention and licensed taskforce many of our veterans have been trained as next during battle amputations and saving men and women that normally should have on the battlefield. i will give you a case in point. tammie was with the assistant secretary as a chopper pilot. she told me the story that when they found her after a chopper crashed the fervor in the chopper but they saw a bubble popped out and they realized she

was a light and saved her she began in the va and is running for congress right now. icahn does relate to you all this to understand the case in point of the hospitals and there's a young man sitting in the chair. good looking hispanic young man the u.n. would just love. very energetic and articulate and he is excited because we went after him and his mother is sending them to him and the latino woman that she would say the restaurant or hotel making your bed and he wouldn't give a second thought. she says she brought her son to the country when he was 2-years-old. he joined the military he could get his citizenship and it's so

exciting industry have a general and his purple heart on him. but he was more excited because he got his citizenship papers. but as he told me that, he was sitting in a wheelchair with no legs. he gave his legs up to the country to get his citizenship papers and we are arguing about immigration. when i have latino men and women serving in this country for the honor and distinction of wearing the military uniform. at the walter reed hospital in the amputee ward the young man has his arm in the race cast with one arm and one leg and you want to meet with the vietnam vets i went to shake his hand gently, so why should it gently and he said are you a vietnam vet? yes, i am. shake my hand like jeannette. a sitting next to him was a

latino girl and i said your boyfriend is a pretty tough guy. she said that's what my boyfriend that is my son. she was 36-years-old. she said that his granddaughter is a vietnam veteran we don't see ourselves s that young but the point i want to make is it hit me that it has been vast in the new generation and that it is our duty what you're going to hear is a collective effort of change going on it is occurring in the set of masters and right now. some of the things these are new initiatives out there to help find jobs so the key is to get the word out, to get them to come in to file for these benefits because they don't file they are not going to get them. so, that is what is happening right now. and i think the post 9/11 g.i. bill is an indication. the montgomery g.i. bill indicated a new nation and our father stepped back from world

war ii and they left it with legislators and congressmen and governors, and today i guarantee we can go into the house and senate and ask how many and only find may be 10% of the body of the veterans. so, we've got to let more of our veterans come back. they're strong, intelligent, bright, and many of them are latinos and latinos better serving and the numbers increased in the country. over a trillion dollar buying power you've got to be kidding me. we, are there. everyone increases that playing field and that's what you're hearing now and i was so excited about that. ayman of hansard of, but i think that there are some opportunities if we work together on that there are a lot of issues in these problems.

we've got a long way to go and a lot of work to do but a lot has been done. >> we are going to open up to questions from the audience but one question first going from some of our strong guest most her luck among us and some of the most vulnerable you took about the aspect of the affordable care act. 1i wanted you to touch on before we throw it open is the question that remains which is the issue of the medicaid expansion. what would be -- what are the stakes right now for the conversation about states implementing the medicaid expansion particularly for the latino community? >> absolutely. for those of you familiar with the medicaid for them, obviously it is a lifeline for millions of the most vulnerable in the community particularly the poor americans and americans with disabilities. the affordable care act provides states the tremendous opportunity for the medicaid program among us.

a prelude to the law medicaid generally covered certain categories of people to leave so you have to be a pregnant woman or a parent of a child and in some states it is a real level of poverty sometimes called% of the poverty level or 18% of the poverty level. what's the law did is create a safety net for all americans to be able to rely on the medicaid program. based on states that choose to expand their program, those categories will go away so americans living below or about 133% of poverty which is about $12,000 for an individual regardless. they will have some coverage. again, with the supreme court decision we left that decision up to the states. but from the department perspective, it really is an issue of opportunity and with the federal government is doing for that expansion of space. for the first three years of the

expansion, 2014, 15 and 16, the federal government will pay every penny of that expansion opportunity. some states want to put any new investment in covering some of our most vulnerable. that's a tremendous opportunity for the states to have money on the table and to also care for their most vulnerable. and then in the future, the federal assistance with both 95% and down to 90%. for the bulk of the financial responsibility of the expansion which for the federal government and that does rest on the fact that caring for the uninsured, caring for the most vulnerable, it isn't just a moral imperative, it really is an economic imperative for americans across the country. i would like to have private insurance today. we pay about a thousand dollars extra each year to compensate for the uninsured. the uninsured that are going to the emergency rooms. the uninsured that don't have a

medical home or don't have a community health center in their community are granted emergency, and frankly they are raising the cost of health care that community. by having the population we are able to focus on the health of a community about the economic well-being of americans in general. so, it is an exciting conversation that we are having with the states now to read we look forward to continuing to work with them that the of the flexibility they need to implement the medicaid program. as difficult are questions for ms. rodriguez and others that i want others to have a chance. if you want to raise your hand and the microphone will be brought out. >> good morning. my name is kimberly jones with opportunity education. we represent the federal programs and 19% of our students are hispanic latino. my question actually is more of a request for your assistance,

and generally, you know, you mentioned how the agencies have started to work together to try to provide access to services and mark opinions of services for the veterans. we've recently learned that our veterans programs, veterans of or down is going to be at least a month late in delivering the brandt awards. that means that our programs all of them are going to shut down at the beginning of the academic year which is when the veterans will need their help the most. i guess my question to solicit your help get sort of funneling the gap and getting those programs through so we can continue the pipeline of services because you're dealing with veterans that come back. they've been out of school for a long time if they have been to school at all and there is a lot of discouragement there. there's a number of reasons for them not to go, so we don't want the government process ceased to become another factor. >> the ask for the collaboration of all, and i think any one of

us would be glad to do that, even this institution would be glad to do that. i think it is vitally important right now is that -- that is what i think that joining forces is about. its bringing the resources to get in and giving them the tools to go out and reach out in the community. when we see how can we reach out to the latino community and the national hispanic chamber of commerce, the g.i. bill, the organization, a lot of organizations out there that are doing good work need that kind of support. i think it is i did decide in those groups to assess what ever i can do to help you if that and i know everyone here will be glad to do that. >> and what you raised the question because our programs are important investments in this broad effort to really boost to inflation and

ultimately the of lifeline to be of help the first generation college doors. some of our lowest income students really would be able to cut successfully complete their degree and find a job so whether it is the talent search, veterans of or down this tremendously successful and important investment for them come up or down science programs. all of these programs are important parts of this broad effort to get more whether it is a returning vet or some of our young people even starting as early as ninth or tenth grade. the education that the need and the pathway that they need to be able to successfully complete a degree. >> next question. >> my name is stila and i work in the environmental field in the sector. and i really appreciate all of the information that you have given us about services and information that can go out to

the latino community but i would like to turn the conversation a little bit on its year in the spirit of creative dialogue. in my field with sustainability of the environment i have observed over the years that there's a great deal to be gained from the knowledge and experience of the culture at what ameritech and immigrants to come to this country in terms of agricultural experience, food waste, cultural the kind of inflight resource use and so rather than always talking about what we can bring to our latino residents and friends in this country i want to ask you what is your perception about how can the latino cultural experiences especially in the area of in volume and resources informed our general conversations and policies related to sustainability in particular on the environmental question, certainly. those are important questions to

address as well. i will say when it comes to the endeavor of education, the strength of our system really is dependent on the participation and contributions of our latino families and their experiences and of their expectations and their cultural norms to educational attainment. when we look at parents and we do service for instance of latino households around the country, you find that education often as one of the highest ranked priorities among our latino families. it's because i think there is a real or acknowledgement that it is such an important part of our ladder towards the middle class towards economic mobility and ultimately to words really fulfilling the american dream, and so the participation of our latino parents and families and

their schools is an important part of the quality of schooling for our kids and what we are focused on and to the to in the administration is what more we can do to really facilitate that collaboration between our schools and our families so that all of those families feel welcome regardless of whether they are working two jobs or the manner of speaking slash well. there's a clear path we to be able to really engage in the schools and of students to succeed. i think if you look for instance some of the attributes of our spanish language and our latino culture and curriculum and in program design when you look for instance some of our successful bilingual and education programs, we have successful dual language programs where our children are in classrooms learning english and learning spanish becoming literate and by

great six they are outperforming their peers in terms of their language and literacy development. so, you know, we have a rich culture and rich fabric that makes up our community and our families and our neighborhoods, and i think every endeavor in our public policy process can benefit from those great assets. spec from the department of health and human services i couldn't agree more. i think a lot of us talk about how we have the culturally competent workforce to ensure that we have diversity training and we are able to better understand people that come in that light would come from the same culture. i think one of the clearest ways to build the cultural work force is to try to ensure that your work force reflects the communities. one of our strong this race to make that happen has been heavily invested by the obama had been attrition and the

national health service corps isn't familiar as an opportunity to give scholarships and loan repayment for dams to the students and interested in pursuing those provisions. we ask for is to years of service in the community across the country, and that could be an inner city, a rural area, a tribal community, in exchange for those two years we will pay two years back of your health professions cool, medical school, nursing school, social work, different professions where we know we need status dedicated to the field, and we know that we can surf the communities by having this exchange. we are able to invest in creating a stronger health care work force but oftentimes it's much more diverse than the traditional health care work force. think about the positions in general. if you look at the work force, 5% of the physicians in this country are latina.

when you look at the work force in the national health service corps, 20% are latino. it's clear that the financial incentives, scholarships, loan repayments, can make a tremendous difference for the latino medical students, nursing students to read and that opportunity is going to help to diversify the health care work force and therefore to be able to be more competent. not only with the patient themselves that their colleagues as they work in the facilities and they are able to meet the diverse needs of our communities. i couldn't agree with you more that there are truly so many lessons to learn from people in the diverse backgrounds and i think it only ads to the experience whether it is health care or energy or education if we invest in those communities and ensure that they are a part of our workforce. >> just quickly because i know that you're running out of time. because you want to turn it on to the years and everything, one quick thing. all of this war, the signature

the second is ptsd, post-traumatic stress disorder. traumatic brain injury. to me ptsd is a spiritual disorder. it is the damaging of the spirit. when you talk about the environment can do for health care, there is a need to address ptsd. the military is turning on the than the can turn the switch off. many latinos, very much, my wife and my two daughters gave me a machoectomy a long time ago so i was able to transition easily but many of my latino veterans have a hard time of letting it out or expressing themselves. so nature there become acupuncture, yoga treatment, fishing, all of that is an environmental feeling process that is recognized right now and

it's something we are going to keep looking at and going through the department of health. there is a need to create a national wellness center. when we created the center's the viet nam center is for veterans to talk to each other that works it institutionalizes itself. personally i think the next evolution level is well this treatment centers for veterans that deal with ptsd, post traumatic spiritual disorder, but not just veterans but freezes victim's the first responders, the whole country suffers from ptsd. so i think looking at the environment and will less can heal the nation and help heal my veterans when they are coming home, so it can really be looked

at and expanded. you said you wanted to put on i think it really can and there is a model that is doing that. >> as we invite to introduce the next very special guest please join me in thinking this wonderful panel for their public service and for their comments today. [applause] >> [inaudible] >> it's a program that focuses on the changing demographics of the nation and i very excited to have here with us today the director of the domestic policy

council of the white house which coordinates the domestic policy-making process at the white house. the director of the intergovernmental affairs which oversaw the obama administration relationships with states and local governments. before joining the obama administration as the senior vice president for the office of resource advocacy and national council the policies that for covering a variety of these for the latinos and putting the civil-rights employment, poverty, education, health, housing and immigration. the particular area is immigration policy [inaudible]

>> so, we heard about a lot this morning very important for the community health care, jobs, small businesses, and i wanted to start a conversation by the fact that in this administration we have seen so many latino appointed officials throughout and the white house is a really important, but we still have latinos in the federal work force. what is being done not just for the federal work force over all but also in this executive service, which is very important position in the federal government. >> so this is a great question and it is a longstanding challenge as we are under represented federal service and also especially in an most senior level. and i am happy to say that the management which is run by eight really wonderful director is too late to he understands the problem very deeply committed he is very committed, not just to increase in the latino participation but in fact the

federal work force over all. so, but is a intrenched challenge that requires changes at the federal agency. it is a place we are beginning to make progress with moderate increases in the federal work force. john has dedicated the task force to working on these issues and then each of the federal agencies is responsible for the developing of a strategic plan to make sure that we are engaging everybody from the cabinet secretary through the people that are making hiring decisions and in the process of making sure that we are ramping up the diversity in the federal government. it is a challenge that we intend to crack something had to be successful in, but it is also something that i think as a federal government we also need to have the support in doing in the years i have been doing it, the policy issue, one of the things we learn as you will end up taking the position because

of networks, and so one of our challenges is that making sure that we can act in the communities that we are driving applicants of the jobs, as we have to be both working out with the federal government does, and we also have to be working at the community understanding of what is available to people. preparation for the jobs that are available so that we are kind of coming up this problem for both deductions so that is something that is a deep commitment for the president and we are hoping to see more. >> we know that the high school rate for the latino is a huge problem not just in terms of our own community looking for and thinking about the future work force. and obviously we ought line in number of initiatives the administration has implemented but is there hope to surmount and what are some of the specific things that you are excited about in terms of

college and complete college. estimate this is where i do my commercial documents in the back of the room for people that were here and that will be on the white house website tomorrow for people that are not in the room, so this is an update of the report that sort of outlines the various priorities and accomplishments of the administration with respect to the latino community the reason that i read it now is because a big chunk of it has to do with our work that we are doing on education, and i know that the director talked about it in detail. i wouldn't just say that there is a sense of urgency. it's almost beyond the sense of urgency the way that i like to describe education secretary arne duncan as someone who is on fire with a sense of urgency about making sure that we are preparing our kids and by that he means our kids for the judges of the 21st century economy. so you have what we have learned is you have to do that at every level. you have to make sure that you -- we are doing everything we can to make sure kids are

prepared when they enter kindergarten. we obviously have a lot of work to an que for 12th and then you have to continue it through higher education. you can't -- of the various points in my career i have watched folks focus on particular parts of the spectrum like they got excited about the third grade and the world of excited about the eighth grade and what we have learned is you have to be excited about the elements and you have to be reformed simultaneously across the entire educational pipeline. the priest the top model is something that we are excited about because we have a lot of reform with of the money that we invested in the race to the top program. so by structure in that program the way that we did, we didn't just say these grants are available and are going to produce changes because the states are going to get money to implement changes for the grant by making them eligible only if they put together particular

forms and active reforms and 46 and 46 states did that. with or not they got the grants, they ultimately moved forward with forms and the designed specifically not to close gaps taught to identify specifically where there are disparities and mature the states are really invested. those kind of investments that we are investing in turnaround schools we are starting to see some results and for the early childhood context to the top model now to do things for higher education were use the road to the top model. fortunately that is something else and we have a great sense

of urgency about not just the white house that the department. >> it is on display the cost of college not only just getting our students to college and how do you pay for that. and especially on the student loan debate that we had what are your thoughts on what needs to happen this is part of that that we talked about with a great sense of urgency about making sure that the college education doesn't become a luxury that on the very few can afford this is is completely inconsistent with we are in the country with the way that we've sort of built the american economy and how we are going to continue to grow the economy in the future. so, while we want a battle to keep the student loan interest rate from doubling but that is only for a year that is one small piece of the broad agenda that trying to enact to get college cost down. as i mentioned we are trying to use the rate of the top model to create a program to encourage

the reforms in the competition in the sector to drive the cost down. we are -- the federal government is doing its part by expanding access to the pell grants, which is serving about 150,000 more latinos under this administration than previously, and the american opportunity tax credit that helps families for a college education. so that is a part of the federal government peace. but the federal government also can't do this by ourselves. we need the states and in the president and the governors last feb this is where he spent his time and energy was reminding them of 40% of them had with cuts and education like this and that if we are going to be keeping the college costs down weekend and that in a situation where we are providing resources to students and then states and colleges turnaround and up their tuition rates as a result of that so they have a role to play round tables and conversation

leaders and the education sector with the university president to talk through this issue to talk about how to create incentives for them to be driving the costs down and expanding this value competition with the consumer financial protection board we have developed a sheet and i can see this as the parent of one student and another one that is out to be. families like ours can be making informed decisions that we can be good consumers of a college education where we are getting ready to write those big checks and take out those loans. as we of colleges representing more than a million students so far to agree to use the chopping sheet and use the materials that as the parents and students you can look at the information to to get out what is the grant, what's the loan, how much i going to go, what are my pumas went to look like and how many students is the college player in jobs and how many are able or not able to repay their loans?

those are all pieces of the puzzle that all of which have to be in place if we are going to be talking down and the other thing about that is we have a big policy which we are very proud of that is pay as you earn system so that if your student on the everett of the higher education processing struggling to manage college that you can sign up with the department of education to pay back the manager did said that you're paying on the 10% of your income than the loan payments. people go into public service for example that is a huge benefits. so the department of education is doing an excellent job at making that accessible. >> and that is important for both families. but going off of that, the announcement in june when it took about college and we talked about you was important for a hour community, and i want to of course, you know, we are all waiting to see how this is going

to work out and wanted to ask you what are you worried about in terms of the process itself? >> this process starts on august 15th and they just announced last friday the parameters of the process is going to look like and i think the more information people have the more they will make the decision whether to come forward to ask for the auction and authorization to be prepared to provide the supporting materials to make an application. one of the big ways and i said that if they have been talking about this is that whenever there is any new credit immigration initiative there are folks out there and from our own community that pay on our own and, you know, they've been advertisements pbs thousand dollars and i will help you figure out your application. there is no need to do that. this is the process for information is available for people to do this on their own or to get legal help only if they need that. one of the big challenge is

making sure the people affected by the policy are armed with information so that they are not traded on the people that take their money needlessly. so that is a major worry and i think they are doing quite a good job dealing with this unauthorized practice of law issue while simply making solid easily understood information to those applying to the process and that hopefully will go along way to make them sure it's implemented successfully. >> now we are running out of time so i'm going to jump to health care and then open up for q&a from the audience. you heard earlier how they're being appalled by the supreme court and the exchange is a local level are going to be important. what is being done to make sure that the community understands the process so they can access exchanges? >> this is a big question. they benefit more from the affordable care act more than any of our constituency because they're more likely to be uninsured than any of your

constituency. so, we have an enormous challenge of making sure the benefits are realized in the community. so, one of the really important mechanisms that we are using is health care.gov in english which might if -- we have been around the country going on the radio, meeting talking about this meeting to help educators make sure they know what tools are available so they can have this conversation in the communities in the country. they explain that as a fiddle under the law but it also helps you choose a health plan and make apples to apples comparisons so you can dial up or down what kind of coverage you're interested in and find a plan that is affordable and it's extraordinary internet tools. we need to make sure people know about that. so that's one piece. but we are also doing a lot of work with community health centers and with doctors and

nurses and health educators. a lot of media and english and spanish going through the malaise there's a lot about health reform and the affordable care act and its about one side of a layer of showing that we have to break through in order to get to the folks on the other side for the rest of the people in the country so we need support and help in doing this switch to the tools available for the understood information. we are going to need a lot of voices and a pair of hands to help people understand preventive care is available now without co-payments and coinsurance so your kids can be on your health care plan until they turn 26 and in 2014 if you don't have coverage now he will sign up and participate in exchange. they went up or there's a federal exchange that is available to it is an enormous tax that this is a good

challenge to have to make sure that we maximize all of the tools that will now be available under the affordable care act to make sure people have coverage. >> we will open up. we have time for two questions. let's take them back to back. >> good morning. frank with the school of social work university of texas austin. there's been a tremendous and very encouraging set of discussions in the information and announcements, and they are all happening at the executive level and that's where the generate dhaka. how we make sure that within the departments this message is getting to a the political appointees, the assistant secretaries, managers who in fact will then cooperate with this message that the hispanics need to be a priority in the work that they are doing. >> this is a great question.

it's something that over those years we have covered over and it's not that i'm on the other side working within the government. of things i've learned is is really important to make sure that you hope you're the right people and you bring in people to whom you don't have to explain why this is a priority because it is self evident. one of the many delightful things for me about my experience in this administration is that i worked with the president who understands this very deeply. having spent decades doing what we all know latino one no one to explain to the executive branch and the people in congress and to other people like we are and we didn't just arrived yesterday and why it is our success important in the country's success i have had to do latino on hundred one for once in the three plus years i've been in the administration because the administration understands that and it includes the cabinet but it also includes folks up and

down the food chain which isn't to say we don't have work to do the sort of fundamentals, the basics are in place and it is our job to maximize what we get out of the for the community and for the country. >> great. good to read to you have a question? >> earlier white house colleague informed us -- i was very impressed by the homeownership. the devils for under 50,000 during the past of months and that is more than 53% of the total increase. at the same time that there was a decrease of at least 600,000 for white households, so what are the driving advantages? he also mentioned the initiatives to the administration has undertaken to

encourage the making of principal productions and even a lot of lenders are beginning to do this. what do you see ahead in terms of the cycle? wimax such a big part of the construction sector, the construction sector drives housing and housing drives the economy and we form a very big part of that economy. >> this is a great question. what we have learned as we get regular briefings on the council of economic at pfizer's dupage jury close attention to the various things that are driving the economy what happened in the housing sector would be very important and what happens in construction is important and they are obviously related in part of our job is to make sure as these things come back they come back and we that maximizes jobs as a community we are involved in every part of this point and our job is to make sure that we as we rebuild we are doing it in a way that is

deliberate about the communities that were the hardest hit by the housing crisis, the communities that were the hardest hit by the loss of jobs and we were making as you know we are making tremendous progress, but we are not where we need to become and we have a deep understanding that we are not where we need to be. and so, you know, as we come back from what is an epic recession and you think about when the president arrived the month he was inaugurated over 700,000 jobs so as we find our way back we are now at a think it is 29 straight months of job growth retreated four half million jobs over that period but we have to make sure we are being delivered at so the jobs are also coming on line where they're most needed in the communities that have been hardest hit and they've reinvigorated if that happens in a way that provides people access to the to affordable

homes and again we have to do with it at the same time. >> think you so much for being here. i want to point you to our website come americanprogress.org if you want to check that out would be great. we hope to continue this conversation and the next few months because these issues are important not just for latinos but americans in general so think you for being here. [applause]

look for the q&a interview with andrew i have no idea about the experiences of the people that were essentially my predecessors as correspondents for diplomats and berlin and all the time spent in germany i haven't spent a lot of time thinking about what it would have been like to have been a correspondent there in the 20's and 30's and how would you have operated. what would you have noticed or not noticed much less how would you have acted. >> sunday at eight on c-span q&a

media strategist produced ads for senator john mccain's presidential campaign. he also advised jon huntsman, dan quayle christine o'donnell. two weeks ago he spoke to the group in culver city california comparing this year's presidential race to the 2008. this is an hour. >> all right. l righ these results tonight. the of yourselves. thank you for coming tonight here in culver city. culve it's a beautiful vignette. please walk among the space, enjoy yourselves, but behavior cells also because you don'tecau want to break anything, a lot o. valuables in the area.alua pretty excited about tonight but before i introduce our guest i want to talk a little bit about generation x because there are new faces in the room and first to i am. am i michael davidson a ceo at gen x3 by help run the thing.

bu but really, our sort of purposei is in our sname which is gen next, and we are trying hard to focus on creating opportunities for future generations and confront challenges facing future generations we don't want to kick the can down the road for things we could have solved thhaat we just sort of pass offd them. we know they will have their own challenges that we want to get as much of the way as possibleoi and to do that, we try to a attract and develop and leveragd talent, so we really focus on very successful busy people and active platforms for them to learn about and get engaged in economic education security issues as a part of the processs like tonight. we know that the political process is extraordinarily important, either in ended with political ads or male or evoke or you just pay taxes, so you know that the political process certainly matters because you are affected by it every day with the now we cannot. a very influential actor so to speak is with us tonight.

he is able oklahoma and. at 19 years old he got involved in a pr firm and had three people. within a few years it had over 50, and the involved in the u.s. senate race that his uncle was running and it forever changed his life. he crethn .. director for the 2008 republican national convention, a chief media strategist for u.s. senator john mccain presidential race, advised corporations, loews corporation and arco and. [inaudible] [laughter] >> maybe you worked for the opposition. i don't know. but in terms of sort of the messaging, and this word message, that campaign style, he is an architect in so many ways of how they communicate with you and how they motivate you to vote for them or for -- against

their opponents or care about a certain issue. you name it. very fascinating because you are affected by them, by them i mean him, more than you ever were realized. so hopefully we will kind of pulled low over your eyes a little bit tonight to talk about that issue. before he gets into the content of want to mention, the is a behind-the-scenes celebrity who is moving out. i guess their is a book called game change that many of you may or may not have read. figured prominently. also turned into a movie on hbo which is a fascinating movie and book. and so he is a character in and a very -- and actor who looks a lot different then embed. the movie. after tonight you can watch it. stickout fred davis. please, it is a rare opportunity to really engage somebody like him who has -- literally playing

at highest levels of political power and influence and getting messages to you. so rare opportunities to engage in have a dialogue with somebody like him. please have an open mind. challenge, inquire, enjoy. this is why we do what we do. give you that kind of exposure. take advantage of it and we will bring it up for questions. i will come back up in moderate. thank you for coming and i will pass it on to fred davis. >> thank you, michael. [applause] well, well, well. good to be back. several of you came up and heard me speak at the geisha house. seems like that was a long time ago. i thought i was in sharp answer something. what i thought i would do is talk very briefly and let you ask any questions that you want. what is happening right now in the presidential race happened exactly like it is now four years ago.

right now i am not involved in the presidential race, but it was out to my eyeballs four years ago. this is because michael suggested that this is what i talk about. this -- that 27, two days from now there was that team of about five or six people, i hope i'm not leaving somebody out. we met once a month in phoenix. the greatest thing in politics is being here and not being in washington. you don't have to give get beat up every day. there would all fly and little chartered planes. flight to phoenix early in the

morning from ten to six. if the four seasons. in this bagram we would plan the next month basically. and then they would go back and i would catch the 8:00 flight. at 6:00 when we finish our planning senator mccain would come and, often with his wife and the secret service and bring tacos from his favorite targets stand. so we would present. this particular time was a particularly grueling day. it was on a sunday. barack obama was a guy who had come from nowhere to be of very, very prominent hamas likely tough challenger in europe right now. on what we call the ram boats or .

his momentum was so i let our little gruber thought we have to break it. how on earth do we break this momentum. so we -- steve schmidt who was sitting next to me. we are running against the greatest celebrity in the world. no one knows anything about m -- hammett. what are we going to do? somewhere in that day we determined the paris hilton approach. i am a republican. i would say the answer is no, but at that time nobody knew. it was less for me to have to a explain to john mccain a wonderful brownson that his future lay in the hands of

opponents of paris hilton. mom it was a long story about what happened at the beginning of that meeting. i will bore you with that. it was certainly in there. he was a little gas. what we did in august was the entire paris hilton's strategy, question his ability to lead, acknowledged to a great extent and expand his flamboyant as of fabulous actor and celebrity. second was how we did the republican convention. obama's was 70 or 80. a mile high stadium, whatever

it's called now in denver. we were in a smaller, much smaller facility. st. paul. minneapolis. and so things looked really bleak, but we had to take -- the third was the vice-presidential choice and the fourth was debate. we covered all four of those. he approved. he signed off. not because of the budget, because the times are so tough. the petition. he did not want a big, gary staying. up tell you that part in the second. we decide a small convention. we thought -- we talked about vice-presidential choice. not chosen at that meeting. what was discussed was that john needed to do something maverick

d. that was needed. you know, you can tell people you are maverick all you want, but until the rubber hits the road when that came out. my recollection is that he did not know who that was when the name came up, but that is right before he chose, not terribly long. so we made this choice is scott told john, did that. you could build a case that because of the legacy at the time, george w. bush which was troubled and being a republican that this was an impossible race to win. yet july 27 those four things, we won august. paris hilton worked. adds did work.

it was not just an ad but a campaign. you saw her a lot. she did not hurt matters when she responded with their own ad. paris hilton's at a pool. we won august. we won the bout coming out of the convention. we had a big bounce. they had minor bounces. they had to get rid of parts of their set because it was so grandiose. ours was designed by a company here in hollywood. it looked like a presidential said. i don't know if you remember when it ended up looking like, but writing notes back-and-forth as we were seeing this. this looks like every cent i have ever seen. i wrote back, i'll take care of it. let's into the room.

he did, and i went over to this guy who was so proud of the model he had built. you know, the column. all we ended up with was a black stage and a very simple podium. at the time the world's largest tv screen which was back there so we could put any images that we wanted on it. sarah palin, for better or worse, the time that she was named vice president was a huge home run. so we won august. even -- it came back. i'm expecting ticker-tape parades and he came back to being behind. we won the convention. when the vice presidential choice we were ahead by two or three points, not a dramatic. shocking amount which had to drive them insane up until that day the world economy collapsed. and then, you know, the debate, from that point on was an impossible thing.

one guy in office, think of him as john mccain he and the legacy of jurors w. bush woods right now is spectacular. at the time it was a bit of a burden. the bush campaign, too. so very perturbed without that was portrayed. nonetheless, he had that problem that obama has now, a troubled economy. the outsider, mitt romney, he's in europe, right there. several people asked me tonight when i thought romney would make his vice-presidential choice. well, it's funny, he didn't ask me, but obviously it will be before the convention. you know, it is like a giant chess game. it is a test says game and it changes every minute. breaux know who the vice presidential choices.

that was the case in our world. the work order came through our shop to design the lapel ads. rick davis. anything that is not mentioned. that is a spoof. and up to his eyeballs. a miserable job. something a was honored to do once. i the river going to die in that process. the big speaking roles at the convention.

there is a big community theater in tulsa. and that same people have been in the cost in department at that community theater all of their lives. they would die in the cost in department. it would work their way up to the better and better role and convince them. somebody that was born into the limo decision committee. all that going on. rowley two or 300 ads that had already been produced. everybody on the little team on the inside had seen those. arguing and fighting and scratching. the article today in bloomberg. the difference between the super pak and the campaign. left out half the story.

what i said was it is much more enjoyable in a way to do the super pak because you don't have 50 people approving every word you right in every ad and every picture. i was doing john hanson presidential race. we decided bear not going to get the money to give him a shot in the campaign. i left to form the super pak. actually, the end of july. and it was like going to my you know what school was like, some of you may still no. crazy. crazy. crazy. the first day of summer is there and you have been looking forward to it for so long, but you have nothing to do.

it's like you're chomping at the bit for something to do. that is what happens when you go from the campaign world. there are three board members, including me, and an attorney. we talked every day for, not ours, but five minutes, ten minutes, 15 minutes was a really long call. and we would make all of the decisions we needed to make, approved everything. the campaign could not approve anything legally. the candidate could not see ads. the candidates wife could not see ads which was our big issue. it was almost like a giant let down. on the one hand it was controlled and easier and a homer and nicer, but the part that they often left out is you miss the adrenaline. yuma is that crazy excitement that kevin soon begin. and then it is a trade-off. that is what is going on. what's different is we did not have super packs four years ago.

so that has made an incredible difference when the funding of romney in particular. and who is winding the most? the obama campaign. what happened four years ago? they had a double and triple the money that we had. so i give them no room, no road to wind because it -- we were ahead. all of us were really proud that we were ahead for such a long time with such limited resources that is all i'm going to talk about there, and then we would get into any subject that you want, but that is what is happening in those crazy presidential campaigns. >> any questions? you have your instructions on the microphone. time -- >> thank you.

it seems as effective warning, it looks like there was a lot. the personality. so you had this charismatic person. this time around it seems less of a formality and hopefully the issues about the economy. hmm still in response. to you see that being maintained on issues are do you ultimately see it as a campaign becoming about personality? >> think of that two players. which one wants it to be about personality in which one wants it to be about issues? that is -- so you're going to see a bottle, and that will be a fascinating battle between barack obama trying to your shed the black cloud of despair that he had ever is said.

he was one of the most incredible speakers i have ever seen. it's like he lost the ability. he released a and/or video a couple of days ago. i cannot remember the name. it's called choice. mine little inside scoop tells me than last sunday. it was really well done. a simple, direct contrast between how he sees your choice in america and how mitt romney caesar choice. mitt romney's team tried to be a republican. they tried to develop a more everyman personality. that did not work so well.

on some tv show a while back. a very smart man. forget the personality thing. the it professional that we need to get this country out. so i think you'll see obama reverting to personality and trying to move the campaign that went. you will see mitt romney doing the opposite trying desperately to keep it on the economy. any poll anybody takes, that's what they care about. >> ultimately winning strategy, in times like this, a different time than we found in 2008, do you see -- i think personality has always played something in the way that america votes.

have a conversation with. because things are so difficult right now, that very serious tone being a winning strategy? >> they both have the potential to win. obama has the potential to win with his enthusiasm and a grass-roots network and he gets rid of the teleprompter and gets back to talking. mitt romney clearly has a pass to win. he found the economy. kind of marking him out because does he want to be president to make more money and put more money in these offshore accounts? all that kind of stuff. clever strategy as we were talking earlier. maybe a little early for that. there is only one time that it matters who is ahead, and this race is going to go back and forth and back and forth. nippon talk, fascinating to watch. great for me to watch because i don't have to -- i can actually

sleep at night. >> i'm sorry. your job to point to that sentiment. >> i would never. >> two is the vice-presidential nominee that does have only just complimenting well, but i have given the boost in the polls that you want to see with a choice like that. who among the potential candidates would you advise him to select? >> i would advise him to take one that i don't think he's going to take. i think he will take an extremely competent skybox that may be complement's and but certainly does not overshadow him. bearing ohio. a great skill.

he's not going to win because of excitement. i would look for somebody that is bring some excitement. sarah palin brought excitement. chris christie would bring excitement to mitt romney. i have nothing to do with that decision. that is nothing but a guess. >> this election and the last several, having beaten mccain and originally just run off, he goes back. loses. romney runs against the same candid it's over and over again. a reelection in the middle of the term for president, the candidates for coming forward for wanting to run?

people not wanting to change. not wanting to just jump in front of the camera quite yet. >> a great question, and a lot of people, so and so is not ready yet. there is an element to that in the chris christie. but it's bigger than that. you hit the nail on the head. the biggest issue is you're going to get to do this once. you don't normally get the nomination and the nomination and then the nomination. you get one. i've been through this with several candidates. it is a tough issue. i give you an example. the huntsman people first call me several years ago, i met him once. and i thought he was a really great guy. environmental defense. fabulous night. a small group that is studying him or helping him more time to

get in to run in 2016. no mention of 12. and i said, well, yeah. that sounds interesting. i signed on. in typical fashion we did that. and after. also, he's no fool. we started studying 2014. 2016, i'm sorry. by all the games. as the more likely to run out? newt gingrich, will he slang out, do well? so it's like a giant chess game. and you're trying to figure out more than anything, they will tell you it is not highly the -- i need a little more experience. they're trying to figure out,

and are you in the game to lose? no. politicians, anybody, nobody plays the game to lose. i don't play at my business to lose. they try to find -- it is a miserable chore to win. they try to find the shortest path to the chance for victory. >> have a question. there is farley somebody on facebook right now. the best and most qualified to much exposure and the angry years. the brightest and most qualified. i want to take a step to that office.

>> dan quayle's presidential race. the heir apparent. vice president. it does is turn. the republican party intends to nominate intern's. think of bob dole. there is a guy in texas, the governor, george w. bush, who very wisely dropped hints that he would run but never said that he would. never said he would. that was a tough presidential race. i got out of. one of my very best friends. dog him for ever. he runs one of the largest companies in the world. one day we were going up a ski lift in telluride where he has a home. it was a miserable day. no one is skiing. dan quayle does not know miserable days. he skis from sunup to sundown.

adelle rumor what happened. kind of forgetting who was with i looked over. why on earth would anyone want to be president. he did not miss a beat. the only time he's ever been mad at me that i know of. he said, because if you think you have the skills that make life better for people in this world it's your duty to run, and he was dead serious. i'm not sure all of them approached it from that or of the standpoint. great senator from georgia. passed away now. he was the same way. in atlanta. on a sunday. he was out there writing his lawn mower. light 110 degrees out. be dragging in. we could talk about.

again, snapped at me. respect and honor me enough. i walked out of my house. i should be addressed properly. i thought that was insane. the fact that he thought that i thought was just an incredible those of character for him. it more character than anyone i know. so many things that i wanted to do in the race and the some of the rest was wanted to do that he would not consider doing. >> not necessarily individuals, but put them out there for their own character to be scrutinized. obviously he knew firsthand. as a family that was potentially attacked. >> i've had a lot of clients. you mentioned facebook. it's not the client so much. because they are of a certain age that that was not around.

maybe a photo. and many did you know have kids, and colorful. colorful college years. you don't want those pictures out there. denture doesn't want the pictures out. most of the time they have no control over it. we have to stamp that down. john hanson came back from china , a conquering hero, a returning hero. because of the laws he could not know that there was this effort for him to run for president. he had a clue that people were talking about it. he got back on a saturday night and went straight to the white house press corps correspondence to neck. totally jet lag from china. goes to that. the next morning, i talked a meeting was on monday, so i missed this. an update on what people were